Paralympics: the class question

Having just come back from the IPC World Championships after winning gold in the S3 50m backstroke, Fran Williamson is able to say she's one of only 12 world champion swimmers in Great Britain in 2010. But what makes her rarer and more unique is her level of impairment

Paralympic sports are divided into classifications, based upon how an athlete’s impairment affects their ability to perform and compete. At the Beijing Paralympics in 2008 I was one of only around 445 athletes who would be classified as a “lower class” athlete (more severely physically impaired) in the entire 4,000 strong Paralympic “family”. Moreover, I am now one of only two lower class swimmers on the British team.

I suppose such facts may come as somewhat of a shock, especially as the Paralympic movement has gathered significant momentum over the last ten years.

More people than ever have watched some form of Paralympic sport, and some are now able to name one or two Paralympians. However, whilst such developments are fantastic for the overall energy of disability sport, it could be said that the movement has moved away from the foundations on which it was built. Indeed, it is visible that Paralympic sport, on the whole, is experiencing a gradual decline in participation within the lower classes. With fewer athletes like me coming up through the ranks to international level, more Paralympic events are being discontinued due to lack of numbers. Additionally, with the media having a remarkable impact on the attitudes and knowledge of the general public, it is important that all athletes, with all levels of impairments, are represented.

However, the tendency to steer away from showing images of athlete’s impairments and making them appear as non-disabled as possible is all too clear.

Therefore, it seems that efforts are made to avoid talking to, or about, athletes whose impairments cannot be hidden – which thus rules out the portrayal of the lower classes.

Again, this will have a significant impact on the motivation of potential lower class athletes. If we are not represented in the media, young people will not be aware of the opportunities sport can bring.

Thus, it can be argued that Paralympic sport bares witness to some, perhaps inadvertent, disablist undertones whereby the higher the functional ability of an athlete the more “elite” they are considered, certainly in terms of media representation. However, such an approach creates a catch-22 predicament – no lower class athletes means fewer events, fewer events means no lower class athletes. Therefore, efforts need to be made to show young disabled people what others are doing and, consequently, what they may well be capable of too. But this cannot be done without the help of the media who need to endeavour to show all levels of impairments, even if it questions society’s attitudes towards disability and sport.

My hope is that when I finally hang up my goggles in a few years time, the British team will not be lacking in lower classes that may well be able to follow in my footsteps. However, I fear this may not be the case!